Te Ururoa Flavell: Land Transport Bill

It seemed an uncanny
co-incidence, that as this Bill entered the Committee stage,
the Deprivation Map hit the news-stands this week.

This is
the map which describes scales of deprivation across
Aotearoa, determined by variables like income, family
support, employment and transport.

The map demonstrates
that there is still a massive gulf between rich and poor,
with a high degree of inequality spread across
cities.

InPorirua for example; there are a large number of
people living in the most deprived areas, a large number in
the least deprived and very few in the middle.

There are
also whole regions which are ‘in the red’ – the most
deprived. Areas, coincidentally, where there are large
numbers of Maori – across my electorate of Waiariki - the
Bay of Plenty – as well as the East Coast and
Northland.

The rolling out of the map certainly
underscored our serios concerns with this Bill.

It is a
difficult tightrope to walk – balancing out the
development of public transport as a key response to dual
challenges of peak oil and climate change; with the
inevitable impact that will occur for taxpayers.

But it is
a journey which we cannot avoid, and we need to go with it,
and of course public transport is the most sensible way to
go.

Our concern has been primarily about what measures
might be put in place to assist the poor people with petrol
price rises in the short term.

And it was in that context,
that we welcomed SOP 209 at the committee stage.

We
believe that this later change was positive in the way in
which it would phase in the regional fuel tax, from a
maximum of two cents per litre in the first year (2009); to
a maximum of five cents per litre in the second year
(2010).

This is the type of sensible and equitable yearly
staggering of costs which could be introduced in to
theEmissions Trading Scheme rather than giving blanket
exemptions and corporate welfare subsidies for those
responsible for the greatest level of pollution.

We
believe that staggering in the costs in this way, will help
to alleviate increased costs for low income earners.

The
other positive development from this amendment is the
assurance that will mean in Auckland, the approval of any
roading projects needs to be consistent with the Auckland
regional land transport strategy.

This is a positive and
constructive change, which we hope will ensure that all
projects will be both economically and environmentally
sustainable.

The last thing we want to do is end up with
is an open cheque to allow cost-intensive projects in the
future.

The inevitable trend of rising oil costs mean
that the cost of building major new highways will be
extremely costly in the future; and we were pleased to
support this change to ensure that certain boundaries are in
place.

The Select Committee had recommended, I believe,
the inclusion of this new clause, to require the New Zealand
Transport Agency to take account of existing regional land
transport programmes in preparing the national land
transport programme.

Mr Speaker, our fundamental interest
in this Bill, comes from our long-standing commitment to
ensure that immediate action is taken to address the peak
oil phenomenon.

We draw on the analysis of the Science
Applications International Corporation report to the United
States Government, which tells it like it is, about the
urgent need to address an ailing global economy.

In that
report, Mr Speaker, their analysis reveals that waiting
until world oil production peaks before taking action would
leave the world with a significant liquid fuel deficit for
more than two decades.

Mr Speaker, we are trapped in a
time which is full of uncertainty. We must make an intense
effort to put strategies in place, now, which act on many
fronts.

We know that petrol prices will continue to rise
as the demand for oil continues to increase.

We know
also, that the availability of oil on the international
market will continue to decline in the face of this demand
which new oil production does not offset. It would appear
that for every new barrel of oil being discovered, five are
being used.

And so, every step we can take towards
preparing for a pending energy crisis must be taken
seriously.

Mr Speaker, the Maori Party is of the view that
our priorities across the House must be to significantly
reduce oil dependency, to plan the utilisation and
development of sustainable energy resources, while also
ensuring that all New Zealanders are able to access
affordable transport options in a world where oil shortages
will mean ever-increasing petrol prices.

We have voted in
support of this Land Transport Management Amendment Bill,
therefore, as an act of faith that the government’s high
level priorities for transport must give significant
investment to public transport as a means of reducing our
reliance on oil.

But, in the context of aGenuine Progress
Index, we return again to the important issue of balance
between expenditure to reduce oil dependence; and
expenditure which our low-income people can not afford.

We
can not leave this debate without continuing to raise the
concept of poverty injustices – the correlation between
low levels of income, and the reduced likelihood of being
able to afford healthy food, warm, uncrowded housing and
primary healthcare.

We must also be concerned about the
trends in the number of children admitted to hospital with
serious infectious diseases, a trend which is closely linked
to the rising levels of poverty.

And I remind the House of
the case being currently heard before the Human Rights
Tribunal, that exclusion from the In-Work tax credit
component ofWorking for Families is leaving our poorest
children vulnerable.

On behalf of the Maori Party, I want
to bring to this debate, the recent report-back from
Auditor-General Kevin Brady, which stated that his
investigation had been abandoned because the Ministry’s
financial reporting systems were very poor.

This is the
Ministry of Defence we are talking about, Mr Speaker, and
the investigation into why their $2.2 billion programme for
buying new ships and helicopters and upgrading planes had
blown out by a massive 392.6 million dollars.

Mr Speaker,
Mr Brady’s report stated and I quote:

My staff were
unable to complete the audit as originally intended. A lot
of the detailed information that I expected the defence
agencies to have was not readily available. Although the
defence agencies’ guidance states that cost estimates
should be robust when they are submitted to Cabinet for
approval to commence acquisition, in practice they are
not.

In our view, this information is not enough for the
defence agencies to demonstrate how well they are managing
the projects or for Parliament or other stakeholders to
reach a view on this.

Now Mr Speaker, I have taken the
time out to quote from this report, because I believe it is
a matter of such significance that it must affect every area
of Government expenditure.

Here we are, expecting ordinary
New Zealanders to dig deep into their pockets again for this
brand new regional fuel tax; and yet the military’s cost
estimates for some whopping $2.2 billion dollars on new
weapons are described as‘not robust enough at this
point’.

You see Mr Speaker, it is all about
credibility.

Big ticket items like helicopters, planes,
and ships must be managed effectively, responsibly and with
great concern for accountability.

How can this Labour led
Government expect to have any credibility if the state of
mismanagement is so apparent?

I guess the answer to the
question is already well known, as the recent poll results
continue to show.

Whilst we make these criticisms public
about the area of Defence, we do not move from our
responsibilities to make a difference in terms of addressing
the ongoing crisis of peak oil; and the complex web of
issues attached to the provision of public transport.

We
will support this Bill at its third and final reading.

And
just as another add on to the debate this afternoon, I was
interested in the comments that Mr Brown of New Zealand
First was making this afternoon about the Treaty of
Waitangi.

The issues around the Treaty of Waitangi are
noted in Government documents, in the Courts and in the
Waitangi Tribunal.

In fact, I will share with him now the
principles as articulated in theGovernment Statement of
1989.

• The principle of government or the kawanatanga
principle;• • The principle of self-management,
the rangatiratanga principle;• • The principle
of equality;• • The principle of reasonable
co-operation;• • And the principle of
redress.• So if he is looking around for an
interpretation he might like try to look at these sources or
even googling it.

The other point he raised was about what
he thought was right for Maori.

It would be a good idea
for him to ask Maori about how they feel about those
principles. Without anything in place, we say Maori are
quite happy for those principles to stay in place, for now,
knowing full well that there is likely to be a debate, down
the line, about how to honour Te Tiriti o
Waitangi.

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